The Sweet Treat of Fluency
Growing Independence and Fluency Design
by: CallieBeth Stankunas
Rationale:
Being a fluent reader grants achievement of skill where they comprehend and fully enjoy the material being read. Fluency allows a student to read quickly and efficiently where most of the words are from sight vocabulary. Once a student has reached this attained goal, their hard work is rewarded with the exciting pictures painted from their mind by truly understanding the context of the book or story. In between the lines of any story or book offer a flexibility of imagination with guided practice of reading comprehension. They must be able to read, decode, crosscheck, and reread words to reach this goal. Students will use the strategy of crosschecking after reading from a decodable text to become fluent and independent in their reading.
Materials:
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Timer/Stopwatch for each pair of students
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Cover up critter (popsicle stick with two googly eyes)
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“I love to eat cookies” sentence strip
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Class set of If You give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
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Pencils/paper
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Fluency checklist (one for each student)
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Timesheet for recording reading times
Fluency Checklist:
Name: _____________
I noticed that my partner…
After 2nd reading…
After 3rd reading…
Remembered more words
Read Faster
Read smoother
Read with more expression
Reading Record Time Sheet:
Name:__________
Date:___________
1st reading:_______
2nd reading:_______
3rd reading:__________
Procedure:
1. Begin the lesson by saying: “alright class, today we will learn how to become fluent readers. Raise your hand if you can tell me what fluent means (wait for response). If I am a fluent reader, I can recognize words automatically! Which means I don’t have to stop reading and take time to sound out each word. Reading is fast and easy when you reach a fluent level. Not to mention there is so much more expression and excitement that is rewarded to you. Once you reach reading fluency, stories become more interesting and enjoyable when you understand what you are reading. Reading fluently out loud to others allows them to enjoy what is being read, too!”
2. Display the sentence strip reading “I love to eat cookies” on the board. Say: “Ok, everyone! Listen to how I read this sentence you see on the board. (Read by separating each sound). ‘I l-l-o-o-v-v (e) to eat c-c-o-o-o-k-k-i-i-e-e-s-s. Was that easy or difficult to understand? (Wait for response). I know what you’re thinking, that was not very easy to understand. Let me say the sentence a little faster (say the sentence faster and a little more fluently). That was a little better, but we still don’t know the full message of the sentence. Let me say it one more time! (Now say the sentence quickly, smoothly, enthusiastically, and fluently). Oh! I love to eat cookies! Does it make sense now? See how I had to re-read a few times before so that I could easily understand the message of the sentence? (Wait for response) Which sentence do you think was easier to comprehend? (Wait for response) which one do you think was harder to comprehend? (Wait for response). The first sentence I said, I read it without fluency… so it was difficult to know what I was saying and to understand what I was reading. I had to re-read the sentence a couple of times in order to read it with fluency and expression. This made it much easier to understand that I like to eat cookies. Becoming a fluent reader is so important and exciting! Today, each one of you will become fluent readers. Let’s get started!
3. Say: “When you meet a word you don’t know, you can use your cover-up critter to figure out what the word is. Let’s look at an example.” Write the word “mill” on the board. “I’ll use the cover-up critter to help me figure out this difficult word. First, I start with the vowel and cover up every other letter. The vowel here is “i,” and I know that i = /i/. Once I figure that out, I’ll uncover the letters before the vowel. In this case, it is the letter m, which says /m/. Then I’ll put the m and the i together to get /m/ /i/. Now I’ll uncover the letters that are left, l and l. I know they say /ll/ when they are together. Now I’ll put it all together… /m/- /i/- /ll/ which is “mill”. That’s not too bad right? Look at it like a puzzle!
4. Give the class an engaging book talk about “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Say: “In this book, we meet a hungry mouse who is given a cookie. When he gets his cookie, he keeps thinking of more and more things he wants to go along with his cookie. But, a little mouse can only need so much, right?... Let’s read to find out what all he will want!”
5. Tell the class that they will now be doing repeated reading with an assigned partner. “We do repeated readings because they will help us become more fluent readers. The more we read a story, the better we will be able to read that story. I will read the beginning out loud to you all, and I want you to follow along with me. I will read as fluently and expressively as I can, so pay close attention to the way I read the story.” Read pages 1-3 aloud.
6. Give instructions to class. Say: “With your partner, one of you will read first, and the other will record. You all may decide who goes first. When it is your turn to read, you will begin when your partner tells you to. Read the entire book and your partner will time you. This is not a race! Please do not try to go faster than your classmates so you “win.” This exercise is meant to help each of you improve your fluency so that you can read faster and more efficiently, this is not a competition. After you have read and your partner has recorded your time, you will switch and record your partner as they read. When you are the recorder, tell your partner when to begin reading. When you say “Begin” you will start the timer. When your partner has finished the book, stop the stopwatch. Record their time on the time sheet. Fill out the fluency checklist based on how your partner did. Once you have filled out both forms, switch jobs again. Do this process three times each, so you each read the book three times and you each record the other three times.
7. Before starting, have one student volunteer to model with you so that the whole class understands of exactly what to do in this assignment.
While students are doing their reading, walk around to monitor progress. You can offer some help (only if needed) but avoid giving too much help. They should learn to do it on their own.
Assessment: Students assess each other by filling out the fluency checklist and the time sheet. The teacher assesses each student by using the fluency formula to determine words per minute: (words x 60)/ seconds. Also, ask comprehension questions while walking around the classroom. “Why do you think the mouse needed milk after a cookie? What made the mouse want ______? What do you think the mouse will ask for next?”
Resources:
Numeroff, Laura and Bond, Felicia. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. New York, New York. Harper Collins, 1985. Print.
Taylor, Sophie. “If You Teach a Pig Fluency”. https://smt0034.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independency-and-fluency
